


Spirit Cats: Summer Rain

by Eastofthemoon



Series: Spirit Cats [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Children, Family, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Gen, Humor, Platonic VLD Week 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 04:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eastofthemoon/pseuds/Eastofthemoon
Summary: Summer is coming to a close, and with it comes change that Keith is feeling uncertain about.





	Spirit Cats: Summer Rain

**Author's Note:**

> So, this isn't the part 2 of the Spirit Cats story, but I couldn't resist writing this little story for the Voltron Platonic Week on tumblr. I will say this story will directly lead into part 2, and I am currently writing it, so I hope you all enjoy it. You may also find a small hint on what is next to come in part 2.

“And then,” Lance whispered as he held the flashlight to his face and blue growled to add to the mood, “the campers heard a growl, and it got closer, and closer-”

Hunk yelped as he dove deeper into his sleeping bag. “Lance, you said this wasn’t a scary story.” Yellow nuzzled at Hunk’s head and growled in the boy’s direction.

Lance rolled his eyes as he lowered his flashlight. “No, I said it wasn’t a ghost story and this is a vampire story.”

“What’s the difference?” Keith asked from his corner of the tent with Red in his lap.

“Ghosts are just spirits that continue to haunt after they die,” Pidge said without glancing up from her comic book. “Vampires are undead monsters that feed on the blood of the living.”

“See, what she said,” Lance said as he pointed to Pidge.

Hunk whimpered as he buried his face into his pillow. “That doesn’t make it any better.”

Lance sighed as he moved closer to him. “Come on, Hunk, it’s Keith’s first sleepover. We got to tell some scary stories. It’s like a rule.”

“Who says?” Pidge remarked dryly as Green pawed at the edges her comic pages.

“My big sister and you don’t argue with her.”

Keith shook his head. He still didn’t know why Shiro got the bright idea of suggesting inviting Pidge, Lance and Hunk to a sleepover at their house. It wasn’t as if they were doing anything different during the day.

_Although, sleeping in a tent is kind of cool,_ he thought, but then noticed Hunk was still quivering. He reached over and patted Hunk’s shoulder. “We can go into the house if you rather.”

Hunk peeked his head out of the sleeping bag and swallowed. “No..I’m okay,” he shot Lance a glare, “ as long as we don’t tell any more stories.”

“Come on,” Lance said with a pout. “Let me just finish this story.”

Hunk glared and sighed as he crossed his arms. “Fine, just make it fast.”

Lance cleared his throat. “As I was saying. The campers were-”

He was cut off as something hit the top of their tent. Keith glanced up as did all the cats “What was that?”

Pidge wrinkled her nose as she stuffed her comic into her backpack. “My guess would be rain.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “It’s not rain, it’s just-”

Suddenly, they heard a boom and a downpour of rain began to come down upon them. Lance twitched an eye as he gave a pout. “Fine, so it’s rain!”

Red have an unhappy growl as she promptly dove inside Keith’s shirt for cover. “Arrg, Red watch the claws,” Keith grumbled as he wrapped his arms around her. 

Red poked her head through the neck hole of his t-shirt and meowed.

“You hate rain that much, huh?” Keith asked as he patted her.

“Please tell me we’re not sleeping in the rain?” Hunk asked as he worryingly glanced up at the top of the tent. “I don’t want to sleep in wet socks.”

“Yeah, agreed,” Pidge said as she hastily gathered up her books into her bag. “I can handle sleeping in a backyard, but this is beyond my limits.”

“Aw, come on, guys,” Lance said as he stood up. “It’s just rain. There’s no reason for us to come inside.”

Just then, they heard the porch door open.

“Kids, it’s pouring,” Shiro called out to them. “You better come inside.”

“You were saying?” Keith asked as he rose, with Red still inside his shirt, and his sleeping bag under one arm.

“It’s still not a big deal,” Lance grumbled.

Keith rolled his eyes as as he dashed out of the tent and into the pouring rain. Hunk and Pidge were close behind him as he ran for the porch. Shiro held the door open for him as they all ran inside. Red growled as she climbed out of Keith’s shirt, jumped onto the floor and shook off the little bit of water that was on her fur.

“Man, she does not like water,” Hunk commented as he placed Yellow on the floor.

“Is that so weird?” Keith asked.

“Not really,” Pidge commented as she hugged to her chest. “Green and Yellow don’t mind it and Blue seems to…” She looked around. “Wait, where are Blue and Lance?”

“Lance, get in here!” Shiro called out the door.

Keith peeked around Shiro and saw both Blue and Lance were spinning in the rain.

“No way!” Lance called out as Blue jumped in the air. “The rain isn’t even cold!”

Blue gave a delighted meow as she pounced into a puddle.

Shiro narrowed his eyes. “Sorry, kiddo, but it’s dark and you should come inside.”

“But I’m having too much fun!” Lance argued.

Hunk sighed as he buried his face into his hand and tugged at Shiro’s shirt. “He’s done this before. Last time it rained like this, his brother had to drag him in.”

Shiro frowned, shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Lance, last warning. You coming in?”

“Nope!” Lance said as he twirled in the rain. “This feels awesome.”

Shiro sighed and looked to the kids. “Stay here,” he said as he marched out and Black followed him. Keith and the others watched silently as Shiro approached Lance and swung the boy over his shoulder. Lance wiggled in protest.

Blue gave a hiss, but stopped as Black growled at her. Blue’s ears then folded back and she obediently followed Black back into the house. Blue shook madly and Red hissed as drops of water fell onto her. She speedly dove behind Keith’s legs and gave a growl as she peeked her head around them.

Keith sighed as he patted Red’s head. “There, there I’ll protect you from the evil water.”

Pidge giggled just as Shiro ran dashed back inside, shut the door and then he put Lance back on the ground.

Lance gave a pout as he looked up to him and didn’t seem to care he was dripping on the floor. “You couldn’t have given me five minutes?”

Shiro reached for a towel and began to dry Lance’s hair. “Sorry, but I didn’t think your parents would like that I let you romp around in the rain in your pjs.”

Lance frowned, but gave a sigh as he lifted the towel from his eyes. “No, guess not. Mom got mad at me the last time I did that.”

_How many times do you run around in the rain?_ Keith thought.

“So, are we sleeping inside then?” Hunk asked and sounded rather hopeful.

Shiro nodded as he handed Hunk a towel. “Yeah, I don’t know if that tent is strong enough to not leak. You’re better off inside.”

Lance gave a pout as he slumped. “Aw man, but I was really looking for to it.”

“Why do you want to sleep outside so badly?” Keith asked as he helped dry Pidge’s hair.

Lance sighed as Shiro finished and moved onto drying Blue. “Because this is our last week of summer vacation! School starts next week and I want to do as much stuff with what time we have left.”

Keith said nothing and found himself hugging Red to his chest. He’d been trying not to ponder about school starting again for the last week. He wasn’t exactly welcomed at his last school and he was hesitant to trust this place would be different.

“We can still have fun,” Shiro said as Blue gave a disgruntled growl. “We can build you guys a couch fort in the living room for you all to sleep in.”

“Ooh,” Hunk said as his eyes lit up. “Can we get a ton of pillows for it?”

“Sure, we should have enough for it,” Shiro said with a shrug. “That okay with you?”

Lance looked uncertain but slowly gave a half smile as Blue rubbed against his legs. “Yeah..I guess that could work.”

“I’ll even make you guys some hot chocolate,” Shiro said as he rose and looked Lance over, “but only after we get you some dry pjs.”

“He can borrow a pair of mine,” Keith offered as he began to move to the stairs. “I should have a pair that fit him.”

“Thanks, Keith,” Lance said as he looked up to Shiro. “Can I put my clothes in the dryer?”

Keith heard Shiro tell him ‘Yes’ as he reached the top of the stairs. Red followed close behind as he entered his room and jumped onto the bed as he went to his dresser.

Keith gave a small smile at the cat. He never thought he get use to Red, but after spending the entire summer with her, she basically felt like his second shadow.

He frowned as he pulled out the drawer and reached for the red nightshirt and pants. It’ll be weird to not have her behind me when I start school again. 

He fiddled with the clothes. There was only one school in the community. All Keith knew about it was that it was called Marmora academy, the principal was called Mister Kolivan or something strange like that, and that all the kids around here went to it.

Pidge, Lance and Hunk never seem to have any complaints about it, but then again, Keith had a feeling all three of them never had problems ‘fitting in’ like he did. 

Red jumped off the bed as she rubbed her head against his leg and Keith stroked her back for comfort. _Maybe if I’m lucky the school will burn down and I won’t have to go at all._

“Hey, buddy,” Shiro said as he poked his head in with Black at his heels. “Did you find the pjs for Lance?”

Keith blushed as he fumbled with the clothes and held them out for Shiro. “Uh, yeah, here,” Shiro took them as Keith crossed his arms. “Sorry, just lost in thought.”

Shiro gave a small smile as he kneeled to his level. “Worrying about school again?”

Keith chewed his bottom lip and gave a slow nod. Sometimes he swore Shiro was a mind reader. “I...what if it’s just like the last school?”

“I’m sure it won’t be,” Shiro said as he patted Keith’s head. “Lance’s mother swears it’s a good school and Coran practically praises it.”

Keith reached out for Red. “Doesn’t mean that I will like it.”

“No, but you gotta at least give it a chance, right?” Shiro said.

“You wouldn’t have to if you homeschooled me,” Keith offered.

Shiro scoffed as he ruffled Keith’s hair. “I think I would drive you crazy if I was your teacher all the time,” his eyes softened. “I know it’s scary, but you won’t be alone this time.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Hunk, Lance and Pidge will be going with you. So, at least you’ll know someone there, even if you’re not in the same class.”

Keith sighed as he dropped his arms to the sides. “I guess,” he glanced to Red, “just wish Red was able go with me.”

Red growled in agreement.

Shiro gave a small nod as he scratched Black’s ears. “I know, but fairly certain there’s a school policy against magical cats.” He shot the cat a look. “Especially with Red’s temperament. She probably try to burn the place down if anyone so much as looked at you funny.”

Red flicked her ears and looked away like she was saying “I wouldn’t burn all of it..just some.”

Keith gave a small chuckle, but quickly found himself pulled into a tight hug.

“Don’t stress about it, kiddo,” Shiro said softly. “That’s my job. Just focus on enjoying the rest of your summer while you got it. Okay?”

Keith hugged back as he buried his face into Shiro’s shoulder. “Yeah, alright.” 

They gave each other one more squeeze before they let go and Shiro stood up. “Let’s get this clothes to Lance before he-”

“Shiro!” Hunk called out. “Lance is thinking about running outside again!”

“It wouldn’t be for long!” Lance argued. “Just five minutes.”

Keith wrinkled his nose. “Lance is strange.”

Shiro nodded and chuckle. “Yeah, but strange can be fun. Come on.”

Keith shook his head and he followed Shiro back to the madness downstairs.

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Once everyone was dry again, Shiro made hot chocolate and Hunk brought out the cookies his parents baked for him. They looked like chocolate chip cookies, but apparently they had pumpkin in them. Keith did think it was an odd flavor, but after taking a few bites he found he did like it. 

After they ate, they took the cushions and every spare pillow in the house to assume their fort in the living room. Lance admitted that while he still would have prefered to be sleeping outside, the fort was ‘rather cool’.

The cats seemed to like it too, at least Keith assumed so. Why else would Red and Blue keep climbing to the top and peering down at them like they were the new queens of the castle.

“Are they going to sleep up there?” Hunk asked as Yellow curled up on the end of his sleeping bag, “I’m not sure the weight will hold them.”

“Naw,” Shiro commented as Black meowed at them from below. “They’re just trying to claim their turf.” He gave a yawn and rotated his shoulders. “Okay, now I think it’s time to catch some shut eye for all of us.”

“But we just got our fort put together,” Lance stated as he pointed to it. “Do we have to go to sleep now?”

Shiro patted his head. “You don’t have to sleep, but just crawl into your sleeping bags and try to be quiet so I can sleep.”

Keith nodded as he plucked Red off the top of the fort. “We can do that, Shiro.”

Shiro ruffled his hair as he waved to the other kids. “I know you can. Night you, guys. In the morning I’ll make you pancakes.”

The kids watched him go before Pidge turned to him and gestured over his shoulder. “Does Shiro make good pancakes?”

Keith gave a forced smile. “Um..depends on how crispy you like them?”

Hunk sighed as he crawled into his sleeping bag. “My mom should really give him some cooking lessons. Maybe I should make them in the morning?”

“Don’t worry, I’m prepared,” Keith said as he went into his own bag. “I got frozen pancakes the last time I was at the store with Shiro.”

Hunk stuck out his tongue. “Those aren’t as good as fresh though.”

“As long as it’s edible, I don’t care,” Pidge said as she flopped on top of her bag and got out her video game. “Lance, want to hook up and play one round of Monster Stoppers before bed?”

“Sure,” Lance said as he brought out his game and Blue looked over his shoulder. “Let me just get my connecting cord.”

Keith rest his head against his pillow and everything went quiet as he listened to Pidge and Lance try to battle each other. A soft meow was heard and Keith felt Red curl up next to him. He wrapped his arm around her like she was a stuff toy. She began her routine of purring and Keith felt his eyes grow heavy.

His fingers stroked Red’s soft fur as he heard Lance whine that Pidge blocked his attack or something. Keith found himself smiling. He never thought he would get use to have friends now. Even if Keith didn’t like his new school, at least he wouldn’t be alone.


End file.
